Missing or corrupt Hal.dll file

[oldskool1964]

That's where I eventually downloaded from Dr, all burnt to disc now so fingers crossed I can access my xp hdd

[SpywareDr]

Being able to see it identified in the CMOS/BIOS Setup would be the first promising sign of life. Next would be having it Pass both the short and long manufacturer's hard drive diagnostics. If it makes it that far, next step would be to check and see if the file system (partition, directory structure, etc.) is still intact and uncorrupted.

[oldskool1964]

I'm so used to not seeing ads on my other machine so I guess I easily got fooled by it, it's now replaced by a different ad which is more obvious it is an ad.

Now I'm sure this ultimate boot tool is a great piece of equipment... if you know how to use it. I've clicked a few what I thought would be obvious links to click, like hdd but alas still cannot access my files. I did somehow end up on the partition page which suggested both HDDs 'passed' (or whatever wording). If someone could post the route to take that would be great

Sorry to be a pest.

Edit, didn't realise we're on page 2. I'm basically left with a menu, which I've no idea how to navigate.

[oldskool1964]

Here's the menu option I'm given

BIOS
CPU
HDD
Memory
Others
Peripherals
System
Parted Magic 2013_08_01_i856 - Press F1 for more information
UBCD FreeDOS R1.51 (Based on NwDsk 3.40)
User-defined

Boot next device
Reboot

GRUB4DOS menu

I've no idea if that's everything as it should be. Inside every link/title there's more links/titles. Please remember I'm a novice so I've no idea

[SpywareDr]

Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to move the highlighted bar up and down on the Menu selections. Then when when it's on one of the menu items you like, press [Enter] to select it. If I'm remembering correctly, try pressing the [Esc] key to go back up a level in the Menu. (Don't believe I've used UBCD since the 4.x version).

Anyway, the Hard Drive diagnostic utilities should be under a Menu item "HD" (hard drive) or "HDD" (hard disk drive). Then in there you should see several diagnostic utilities from various hard drive manufacturers. Select the appropriate one and let it test the hard drive. If you aren't sure who made the hard drive in your computer, Seagate's Seatools works with most makes of drive.

(Of course you'll probably want to avoid anything that mentions "delete", "erase", "destroy" etc., until you have everything you want copied from the drive).

-- edit --

Oops, looks like I was too slow in typing in my response. (Phone call). I'll leave it with the hope that it'll help.

[oldskool1964]

The most obvious options I like are HDD>Data recovery. Nowhere do I see my hdds named. Nowhere do I see my files. All I'm given when clicking said option is some sort of squared graph which displays A1, A2 B1, B2 etc etc

That said I have seen my hdds named in the parted magic option, there just doesn't seem any way of actually accessing them.

I also tried plugging in an external drive but drew a blank, possibly too early I suppose.

PS No worries DR, we seem to be typing at the same time. It's not easy this end running room to room trying to remember what I've seen

[SpywareDr]

In your particular case, the UBCD was advised so you could make sure the hard drive's hardware, (not file system), is working okay. Once that passes, then it's on to the next step.

Step 1) See if the hard drive is recognized on the computer's CMOS/BIOS Setup. If so, go to Step 2. If not, there is a problem somewhere. If the computer's BIOS (basic input/output system) cannot recognize the hard drive, then neither can -any- software. Double check and make sure it's jumpered and connected correctly and try again.

Step 2) If it passed both the short and long hard drive diagnostics (to make sure the hardware is okay), the next step would normally be to run the Windows "CHKDSK /R" command to check for errors and if any are found, attempt to recover any readable information.

Step 3) Now you're ready to attempt to copy your files off of the hard drive onto another medium.

Note that between Step 1 and 2, if it was my drive and time permitted, I would use a hard drive duplicator to make a sector-by-sector copy of the entire hard drive onto another drive. Now I'd run Step 2 on the copy. That way, if CHKDSK couldn't solve the problem, or for whatever other reason I still couldn't see or get to my files on the drive, I would still have my original, unaltered drive to send to a professional recovery service.

[Midknyte]

After UBCD boots, use the arrow keys/Enter to choose HDD > Diagnosis
What brand of hard drive do you have?
For Western Digital, choose Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS V5.22
For Seagate, choose SeaTools for DOS V2.23

Run both the short/quick and long/extended test. Don't assume the drive is good even if it passes the short test.

Don't mess with the Data Recovery tools yet.

[oldskool1964]

I have 2 harddrives on there. WDD and Maxtor, the pc itself is e-machines. For the life of me I can't remember which one holds the OS, at a pure guess I'll go with WDD. I've taken a break since my last post as it's mind-numbing and not really worth the stress it has already caused.

I'm still none the wiser on how to actually use this boot disc, I will play some more when I'm ready. I've stripped the PC of all things usb but I also need to take out the 2nd hdd. In recent times it was coming up with 'cycle redundancy' errors when I moved items to external so that could be the problem? (it always led to scandisk after such errors on the next reboot). Again, I can't remember which hdd is which as it's so long since being inside the pc, will it be the upper or lower hdd?

As for the options of running diagnostics, how? There isn't any option to run 'diagnostics', I've listed all the options available in a previous post.

Apologies if I'm being a pest or appearing totally clueless

[SpywareDr]

Look in the computer's CMOS/BIOS Setup and see which drive is set as the first one to try and boot from.

Also, while you're in there, see if it shows the hard drives model numbers. If so, please post them here.

[Midknyte]

In recent times it was coming up with 'cycle redundancy' errors

I think you mean "cyclic redundancy". That's an indication of a bad hard drive.

As for the options of running diagnostics, how? There isn't any option to run 'diagnostics', I've listed all the options available in a previous post.

Like I said before, after UBCD boots, use the arrow keys/Enter to choose HDD > Diagnosis
There will be a list of diagnostic tools.
For the WD drive, run Datalifeguard tools. Maxtor is under Seagate now, so run Seatools on that.

Again, I can't remember which hdd is which as it's so long since being inside the pc, will it be the upper or lower hdd?

You can try looking at the cables and which ports the drives are connected to, but it would be easier to check the BIOS.

[oldskool1964]

Thanks for all the help so far lads and lasses.

Yes I did indeed mean 'cyclic' redundancy error.

I've finally done HDD>Diagnosis. The quick test came up fine. Despite recommendations to back up files I ran the extended test. Too many errors to report please contact Virtual Dr , error/status code 0225 That was on my Western Digital drive which I presume to be my main drive.

[oldskool1964]

I'm now trying to run diagnosis on my Maxtor drive, it's coming up as 'primary slave', which I assume is my secondary HDD. Apologies for not knowing for certain which you good people probably take for granted.

[oldskool1964]

Results for the Maxtor hdd:

Diagnostic code de68a671, this drive is failing. Assuming this is my secondary hdd then no real surprise after receiving cyclic redundancy errors.

One thing I haven't mentioned is I've already gone ahead with poor M$ advice, trying to replace hal.dll. I'm running sp3 so the original hal.dl_ from the recovery disc is probably a bad move. In fact I tried overwriting the whole lot, as stated in OP.

[SpywareDr]

There are actually several different HAL files on the Windows media. During installation, the Windows installation routine determines which one is appropriate for the current hardware, copies it to the hard drive and then renames it to Hal.dll if necessary.